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The fight over renewing the nation’s farm bill has centered on cuts to the $80 billion-a-year food stamp program. But there could be unintended consequences if no agreement is reached: higher milk prices. Members of the House and Senate are scheduled to begin long-awaited negotiations on the five-year, roughly $500 billion bill this week. If they don’t finish it, dairy supports could expire at the end of the year and send the price of a gallon of milk skyward. KLTV reports that the price of milk could reach $8 a gallon. “We are pretty much at the mercy of the...

Millions of people are in for a shock at the end of the week when their food stamp benefits will be cut across the board. There is little chance that Congress will act to avert what hunger activists call the “food stamp cliff” — a cut to benefits that will affect some 47 million beneficiaries, including children and the elderly. The cut takes effect on Nov. 1, and will bring an end to a funding increase that Democrats wrapped into President Obama’s 2009 stimulus law. For a family of four, the cut will be $36 per month, or about 20...

Food stamp recipients are turning the government handouts into quick cash with ads on Craigslist, despite efforts to stem fraud. The federally-funded grocery assistance coupons -- which are issued by states in the form of debit cards under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) -- are being sold on the online bulletin board as well as auction sites like eBay. FoxNews.com found several offerings at Craigslist sites around the country, where the sellers offered the welfare benefits at large discounts from face value.

Proud to be an American... Something is really wrong with this picture...

Every time an American signs up for food stamps in one of 23 states, JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) adds to its revenue stream. That because JPMorgan Chase contracts to operate as the processor of the Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cards in those states. JPMorgan earns a fee for each recipient, ranging from 31 cents to $2.30, depending on the state, every month for the term of the contract. JPMorgan's seven-year Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, the official name for the federal food stamp program) contract with New York state, for example, brought in more than $126 million of...

Under the POS’s presidency, the number of Americans receiving food stamps (now called Electronic Benefits Transfer or EBT) exploded. Today, one in five U.S. households are on food stamps. Worse still, we are taking two steps back for every step forward: For every new job that’s been created, two new recipients (let’s call them food-stampers) are added to the food stamps dole. Given our exploding national debt and the impending bankruptcy of, first, Social Security Disability (in 2016!), then Social Security itself, followed by Medicare, anyone with half a brain whose head isn’t plunged deep in the River of Denial,...

To find out how many people participate in the program in your area and how that number has changed since 2000, enter your ZIP code, city, or county and state....

When over the weekend, a Xerox "glitch" shut down the EBT system, better known as foodstamps, for nearly the entire day across 17 states leaving millions without "funding" to pay for food leading to dramatic examples of the basest human behavior possible, some of the more conspiratorial elements saw this merely as a dress rehearsal for what may be coming in the immediate future. While there was no basis to believe that is the case, a USDA (the currently shuttered agency that administers the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) memo obtained by the Crossroads Urban Center in Utah carries in it...

<p>States across the country are being told to stop the supplemental nutrition assistance program for the month of November, pending further notice.</p> <p>That’s according to a letter from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Fox 13 obtained a copy from the Crossroads Urban Center in downtown Salt Lake City. Crossroads says if Utah families don’t get food stamps, they’ll turn to the local food pantries, which are already strapped due to the government shutdown. Homeless people Fox 13 talked to, some who use SNAP, say losing food stamps would mean going hungry.</p>

<p>States across the country are being told to stop the supplemental nutrition assistance program for the month of November, pending further notice.</p> <p>That’s according to a letter from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Fox 13 obtained a copy from the Crossroads Urban Center in downtown Salt Lake City. Crossroads says if Utah families don’t get food stamps, they’ll turn to the local food pantries, which are already strapped due to the government shutdown. Homeless people Fox 13 talked to, some who use SNAP, say losing food stamps would mean going hungry.</p>

David Clohessy was out in front of the Chancery of the Archdiocese on Thursday October 10th. The Executive Director of SNAP (Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests) according to his own testimony has done this thousands of times. SNAP has been busy in the Twin Cities of late. They have been drawn here by the media frenzy surrounding the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. There is currently at least one lawsuit pending against the Archdiocese, filed by local lawyer Jeff Anderson. Having worked together before, Clohessy and Anderson’s routine is well known. During the course of the allegations,...

Iowa officials have implemented an emergency plan of issuing vouchers to low-income residents after computer problems caused electronic payments for food stamps to fail across the country. The Iowa Department of Human Services says it already had a contingency plan in place for such emergencies. Iowans who receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits and find that their electronic benefit card isn't working can fill out a voucher and receive $50 daily in food assistance. DHS says the contingency plan has no financial impact to grocers. Wendy Rickman, who administers DHS' food stamp program, says the plan makes certain that people...

KNOXVILLE (WATE) - A temporary increase in food stamps expires October 31, meaning for millions of Americans, the benefits that help put food on the table won't stretch as far as they have for the past four years. Food stamps, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, go to 47 million Americans a month. Almost half of them children and teenagers. The monthly benefits, which go to one in seven Americans, fluctuate based on factors including food prices, income and inflation. Those could affect people right here in East Tennessee as 1.3 million Tennesseans receive food stamps at a cost of about...

STUARTS DRAFT, Va. -- People in 17 states haven't been able to get food they need if they have a food stamp debit card. The O'Neils rely on their EBT Debit card to feed themselves and their son Micah. "People were looking at me I asked if there was anything else if she could if she could run it again and it wasn't working," said Terry O'Neil. The card has $153 to support three people for the remaining weeks in October. When their EBT card was denied today at the Waynesboro Walmart, Kristen O'Neil was embarrassed and frustrated. "We didn't...

Full carts abandoned at Chicago grocery stores were a common sight as shoppers in Illinois and many other states have been unable to use their food stamp debit cards. More than two million people in Illinois use a so-called Link Card. That's one in six residents in the state. So when suddenly the system went down Saturday morning many customers just walked out of the store. "Now I'm going to have to unfortunately do the fast food thing now. No cooking tonight," said Link Card user Rob Lee. "That's how people starve," said shopper Sean Wright. "People starve if they...

People in California, New Jersey and 15 other states found themselves temporarily unable to use their food stamp debit-style cards on Saturday, after a routine test of backup systems by the vendor Xerox resulted in a system failure. Illinois residents began reporting problems with their cards — known as LINK — on Saturday morning, said Januari Smith, a spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Human Services. “It really is a bad situation, but they are working to get it fixed as soon as possible,” she said.

VIRGINIA - The Electronic Benefit Transfer system malfunctioned across Virginia and several other states Saturday, but service was restored by around 10 p.m. "It's just frustrating how I've been to several different stores right in around to get groceries for my family," said Jessica Perkins, an EBT customer. Perkins has five kids she was grocery shopping for Saturday. Perkins went to Farm Fresh, Save-A-Lot, and Food Lion before figuring out she could use her EBT card at WalMart. Perkins said she could only use the $50 at a time. "I just thank God that I have some type of provisions,"...

BANGOR — The Electronic Benefits Transfer system that allows welfare recipients to buy groceries and other necessities experienced issues on Saturday. In some cases, people weren’t able to buy groceries. The website for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers the EBT system, is offline because of the government shutdown.

ATLANTIC CITY - If you tried to use your electronic benefits transfer card Saturday, and was having problems, you're not alone. "I feel its going to leave a huge dent in these families because there is people who have 3 or 4 children," the Atlantic City woman said. "I think its horrible that people aren't able to get their food stamps. There are families out there that depends on these things, to feed their families," explains an Atlantic City man. As for store owners like Mohammed Ali of the 7–11 in Atlantic City, he says he has already lost hundreds...